1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of and a system for winding a film of given length, cut from a film roll, winding the film on a spool, placing the wound film into a film cartridge, and inserting the film cartridge into a case, thereby to manufacture a packaged product.
2. Description of the Related Art
For producing and packaging a photographic photosensitive film, it has been customary to perform various steps including the steps of producing a film of given length, winding the film, placing the wound film into a film cartridge, and inserting the film cartridge into a case.
These various steps are carried out by a station comprising a film supply unit for unwinding a film roll and cutting the unwound film to a film of given length, a film coiling unit for coiling the film of given length on a spool thereby to produce a film coil, a cartridge producing unit for staking a cap on an end of a tubular cartridge blank sheet thereby to produce a cartridge with one open end, an assembling unit for inserting the film coil into the cartridge and staking another cap on the open end of the cartridge thereby to produce an assembled cartridge, and an encasing unit for placing the assembled cartridge into a case and attaching a case cap on an open end of the case thereby to produce a packaged product.
As described above, the various steps are carried out by the above station in order to manufacture packaged products from a film roll. However, the station effects no defect inspection in each of the manufacturing steps. If something defective is produced in any one of the steps, it is delivered successively through the subsequent steps, resulting in an increased ratio of defective packaged products. Consequently, it is not possible to carry out an efficient process of manufacturing packaged products, and high-quality packaged products cannot be manufactured efficiently.
According to one solution disclosed in Japanese laid-open patent publication No. 6-266059, photosensitive film magazines are successively supplied from a photosensitive film magazine assembling unit through a predetermined path covered with a light shield tunnel that extends over a distance required to place the photosensitive film magazine assembling unit essentially in a dark room condition. The supplied photosensitive film magazines are inspected one by one in a non-dark room condition, and then supplied successively through a given path to a container storing unit. In the container storing unit, only those photosensitive film magazines which are judged as accepted by the inspection process are stored in a photosensitive film magazine container.
In the above disclosed process, since photosensitive film magazines are inspected in a non-dark room condition, if something defective occurs prior to the production of a cartridge in the cartridge producing unit, e.g., if a defective film coil is produced by the film coiling unit in a dark room, it is not possible to inspect the defective film coil.
When the defective film coil is introduced into the cartridge producing unit, operation of the cartridge producing unit may be interrupted because the defective film coil may not be inserted into a cartridge, or if the defective film coil is inserted into a cartridge, then a ratio of defective assembled cartridges is increased. Since the cartridges are considerably expensive, the production of many defective assembled cartridges is uneconomical because they are usually thrown away.
The film coiling unit includes a spool supply unit which contains a predetermined number of spools. After the spools are successively discharged from the spool supply unit, new spools are automatically supplied to the film coiling unit by a feeder such as a conveyor or the like.
Spools are made of synthetic resin, and have thin-walled large-diameter tubular members on opposite axial ends thereof. Inasmuch as a thin-walled large-diameter tubular member tends to be cracked or broken with ease, a spool with a defective large-diameter tubular member may be delivered to the film coiling unit. When a film of given length is wound on such a spool with a defective large-diameter tubular member, a defective film coil is produced. Accordingly, the yield of accepted packaged products cannot be increased, and an efficient and economical process of producing and packaging films cannot be carried out.
A case for accommodating an assembled cartridge therein is usually in the form of a bottomed cylindrical case molded of synthetic resin. Therefore, the case is liable to be flexed or otherwise deformed. When an assembled cartridge is placed in a deformed case, a defective packaged product results.
Japanese laid-open patent publication No. 4-217511 discloses a pipeline transportation system including an aligning container for controlling the orientation of cylindrical bodies (cases) accommodated therein, a sorter for drawing and sorting out cylindrical bodies, and a transportation pipe smoothly joined to the sorter for delivering under suction those sorted-out cylindrical bodies which have a normal shape.
The sorter is positioned at a suction port of the aligning container, and is constricted into a diameter smaller than the inside diameter of the transportation pipe and slightly greater than the outside diameter of cylindrical bodies. When a deformed cylindrical body is sent to the suction port of the aligning container, the deformed cylindrical body is prevented from entering the transportation pipe by the sorter. However, because the deformed cylindrical body which is blocked by the sorter remained undelivered in the sorter, subsequent normal cylindrical bodies cannot smoothly be delivered into the transportation pipe. As a consequence, the pipeline transportation system is apt to suffer a cylindrical body delivery failure.